Fall 2013 Class Descriptions

As of 3/19/2018 5:33:53 AM

The Law in Cyberspace

We are only beginning to formulate the laws that govern cyberspace. A variety of efforts to apply current law to the Internet have yielded a variety of different results. Efforts to draw new laws to address the distinct problems of the networked digital environment have run into logistical and political problems as well as legal ones. The seminar will examine the law

in cyberspace as it develops. We will explore theories of cyberspace governance; jurisdiction over virtual conduct; legal and technological regulation of online speech; issues of privacy,

anonymity, and accountability; the design of technical and legal infrastructure for online transactions; ownership and protection of digital intellectual property; and access to communications networks and informational content. Most of the assigned texts

will be material available online. The majority of the material you will be reading in preparation for class over the course of the seminar will be selected by your classmates. In the first week of class, I will ask each of you to select a topic from a list of 30 of 40 topics that I will post in early August. For each topic, the person assigned to cover that topic will, after

consulting with me, create a reading assignment. I will post the assignment on the web before the previous week's class, and students will have that week to read the assigned material for the topics scheduled for the following class. We will typically cover two topics each week. Your grades will consist of three, equally weighted components: (1) The reading assignment designed for the class; (2) A 20-to-30 page research paper on the same topic; and (3) Your class participation over the course of the semester.